Conclusion: Ok, now I can never say what exactly holds the number one slot, but I can say for sure this instantly entered in my top five IPA list.

It all starts out innocently enough – cloudy body, but the recent New England style surge in beers has made that nothing unusual – it is still pretty to the eye though – thick, dark coloured for an IPA and creamy looking.

Similarly the aroma is good, but not unusual – light prickly hop use over creamy apricot notes. It is a bit creamier than normal , giving yogurt to custard imagery, but not that unexpected. What is the first hint of something else is the banana notes that come out – now this is not unheard of, but is a tad unusual in an IPA.

Then you get the first sip – It feels like it is actually exploding, popping candy style, on your tongue – the texture is creamy but the flavour makes it feel like fizzing sherbet sweet candy notes against hop oils. The banana comes out again making a banana custard style malt base that is the solid core of this beer.

What then comes is the slow development of hop oils, resin and … Sigh ok I’ll say it .. dank hop character. This adds a weight to the sweet beer that is oft ignored in the sweeter IPAs. It just finished the thing off perfectly. Light notes initially then the hop oil character dances across it building to be a secondary, but definitely present counterbalance to the high sweetness.

Different in its feel, prickly and chewy in the fruitiness, sweetness against oily and resinous notes with a dash of bitterness. This is a nigh perfect IPA – utterly drinkable and utterly awesome.

background: You know, Initially I thought this brewery was called “Topping Goliath”. I had so may sub/dom jokes worked out. Then I realised it was Toppling. Life is pain sometimes. Anyway, despite always getting their name wrong, I have been hearing good things about Toppling Goliath for a few years now, but they had a reputation for being hard to get hold of, even in the USA, so when I saw them turn up on the shelves at Independent Spirit I had to look twice to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I then grabbed three cans instantly to try. This is an IPA made with Golden Promise barley and Nugget hops. Because of the Attitude Era podcast I am aware that nugget was a euphemism for shit when used to insult Owen Hart (The late and great). Thus this beer’s name made me snigger. As always I can be a tad childish. Put on Garbage 2.0 while drinking this. That bloody album is 20 years old this year. Damn time flies – still one of the albums of my teen years and still great.

Conclusion: What is it about otherwise good breweries turning out really dull and uninspiring IPAs recently? Though at least this one is recognisable as an IPA, even if it is not a good one. It has bitterness but just in a cardboard and charred way – it has hop character but kind of gritty and rough in that.

This follows through into the malt – kind of dull, some vanilla and some dull malt drinks. The fruit hop flavours that you would expect of a craft IPA are there in a green fruit way, but very underwhelming. The entire beer has a sulphurous touch in an old British IPA way, but without the rest of the British IPA notes that make that work.

It feels like a British IPA style, trying to do the USA style hops without changing anything else and therefore not getting the point of either. It is dull, flawed and rough edged. Admittedly still a better IPA than Indie Pale Ale, but like that has a lager feeling edge that weakens it, again without gaining any of the benefits of that style.

This is a genuinely bad beer – it takes the weak points of everything it is inspired by and puts in in one beer. It isn’t isn’t utterly ruined from the brewing standpoint – but from the combined elements it has that don’t work it becomes a very bad beer. Genuinely avoid this one.

Background: This was a birthday gift from my mate Tony. Many thanks. Even though it is shit 🙂 He did also give me other, not shit, beers. Robinson’s are generally a good brewery, but never really struck me as craft, so I was in mixed mind about this, obviously craft inspired, beer. Not much else to say put some No Doubt on while drinking. That is about it.

Conclusion: This is pretty dry, pretty good hop character and has a solid bitterness. All of that is a good start for an IPA – especially the west coast style. Whoop!. It has got the base concept down well – the question is what garnishes it manages to add to the dish to take that beyond that.

It starts off with quite a floral, flour touched character in the aroma – lots of outdoors imagery and flavours coming in with this one. It is interesting but not quite blowing me away. Now this beer has an awesome hop selection – but it seems to bring its notes in subtly. The fruit notes are very dry, and with it comes the drying bitter character.

It feels like a beer that I really want to like as it gets the base so well done – so drying yet with just enough tartness to not make it painful to drink. It has only the tiniest hint of sweetness against the bitterness but again good enough to offset it. It is just the rest of the beer doesn’t quite pay off that base.

In fact, the name “Green Path” does seem appropriate to sum up the beer – the greenery and moss like notes grow over time, feeling like a more earthy and grounded UK take on an IPA matched to the west coast style. Fascinating, but that doesn’t make it a must drink for me. There aren’t many flaws – the hop remnants left in the beer were a surprise on the pour, and made it feel a tad bitty near the end – but for the most part it is less that it has flaws, but that it doesn’t quite make the most of what it has.

Lots of talent went into a beer that doesn’t quite click for me **Shrug** make of that what you will.

Background: Listed as a “Citra and Mosaic IPA”, some reviews online list a cask version as “Citra, Mosaic and Enigma” So I’m guessing they have mixed up the recipe for the canned version. Anyway, this was grabbed from Independent Spirit – Burnt Mill was voted best new Brewery in England 2017, so I thought I really should check them out. This is listed as a West Coast leaning IPA, which is a style currently oft overlooked in the New England craze so I figured it was worth giving a shot. I put on some Genitorturers to listen to while drinking this – heavy hops deserve some heavy, out there industrial metal music.

Conclusion: On first glance I rolled my eyes at this one, as this came out looking like the prototypical New England IPA. It is all cloudy and hazy on the eye, which is a nice look I will admit, and the NEIPA is not a bad style, but it is not my favourite style due to often taking a light, low bitterness take on the style which is not what I was looking for right now.

This beer quickly kicked that idea into touch. Pine needles and oily hops come out in the nose, then into sticky, oily bitterness in the body, and a solid bitter kick on the way out. This packs in all the nice alpha acids and oily hop character that I like in an IPA. Obviously if you like the low IBU, smooth NEIPA style, your mileage may vary significantly.

Beneath that the fruit is juicer and thicker than in most NEIPAs – using the creamy texture for extra mouthfeel but not tying the fruit character to a similar smoothness. Instead they give sticky stewed apricots and grapes to match the sticky hops punch for punch. There is good use of a savoury kumquat style backing and moss like notes underneath – mixed with a umami, kind of eel sashimi, hard to place kind of character – basically savoury grounding notes against a big peach syrup sweetness that adds range around the solid bitterness.

All together a great IPA – uses the creaminess of NEIPA, the “dank” hops of current popular trends, and the fruit use of a more traditional USA IPA. What keeps it from classic status is a lack of range to come out throughout the beer- it just lacks extra notes to dig into as time does on, but that is about all. Another great IPA.

Background: Ok, this was basically pressed into my hand at Independent Spirit, and I was told to grab it. So I did. Let’s face it Cloud water know their hop beers, and Lervig have a good rep – plus the can looks like someone vomiting up green. Which is nice. Always the best reasons to grab a beer. Anyway, made with rye in as well, so that is an actual thing about the beer.

Conclusion: Now this is what I like – a bit of body to my IPAs. This has a lovely creamy and fruit syrup thick body to it while avoiding that artificial syrup crystallised sugar feel. Instead it just has that oozing fruit styling, and bringing similar fruity notes with it. It takes a very thick, stewed fruit set of notes from apricot and even rhubarb, mixed with lighter peach melba like notes.

The body, while thick and creamy, feels comparatively flavour neutral. It feels like a weight attached to the hop flavour, deliberately trying not to be a flavour entity in itself – it is just happy to be the foundation and let the fruity hops do their thing.

Unlike the current trend, this also shoves up the hop bitterness to go with the hop fruitiness. Initially fairly gentle at first, letting the fruit do all the work, it rises to a good intensity while never eclipsing the juicy fruit flavours.

This is full, fruity and sense tingling with the hop kick. It really makes full use of its abv, not by showing it as burn or boozy character, but instead giving that thickness to really let the flavours grip in a way that only a higher abv beer can. A genuinely enjoyable ipa – I love it as a beer in itslef and a a brilliant Mosaic showcase. Now please don’t ruin it InBev!

Background: This is why we can’t have nice things in life. About a week or two after I bought this, InBev go and buy the brewery. Now it is possible they won’t fuck it up – however I am not holding my breath. Anyway, an Australian brewery! And one I have not previously encountered. Mosaic is an awesome hop, and I love IPAs, so this seemed like a good beer to use to check them out. Anyway, another one grabbed from Independent Spirit. Went for an absolute classic of the gloomy metal genre for listening music – Paradise Lost – Draconian Times. Bloody love that album.

Conclusion: Short way to describe this? It does what it does well, but I want it to do a bit more though.

This is more, well, hoppy that a bunch of the New England IPAs I’ve encountered – it has a good use of the hops in the mouthfeel producing a resinous and hop oily character. It has a solid level of bitterness and generally a solid hop character all around. As a hop head I have to admit a higher level of bitterness and hop feel in an IPA definitely draws me to it, even if that isn’t really what the NEIPA style is all about.

Flavour wise is seems a bit more simple – rather than the huge range you get with the hop feel – the mix of oily, hoppy and resinous characters – for the flavour it leans into soft peach and apricot in a creamy fashion. It is nice, but feels weak against the bigger hop character. It is an ok, if not wide ranging flavour, but that is the main point that comes to mind when I say that it needs a bit more.

It needs either more range, more subtle notes, or more push of the limited flavours it does has – as tight now the milky NE fruit style can’t compete with the bigger hops.

It is a good beer at what it does, but I want more.

Background: Saw this being hyped up a bit when it arrived, hadn’t heard about it so did a quick look round and yeah, this is seriously well rated IPA online so I thought it would be worth a try – even if the New England interpretation isn’t my favourite of the IPA styles. So, grabbed this from Independent Spirit. Broke open this while listening to Rise Against: Siren Songs Of The Counter Culture – I know it catches some shit as the first time they went with a major label, but I still think it is a decent album.

Conclusion: This takes some time to get going – early on it is all bitter hops and peppery character; Not something I generally complain about as a hop head, but I like a beer to have a bit more going to round it out. A high hop bitterness can’t do the whole job by itself, much as some beers may try.

Time lets out some soft green fruit and tart pineapple -often the fruit notes seem to come across in a dried fruit fashion, but there are some fresh and tarter notes that occasionally come out. It results in a soft balance to the peppery bitterness, backed by a solid oatmeal tasting and thickness of character. It is better like this but still feels solid rather than exciting – with the oatmeal like base, pepper, flour touches there is a lot grounding the beer, with the high bitterness being the biggest element and it feels like it doesn’t let the flavour range these hops should have really show. Again, more time can allow some soft peach, in a milky fashion come out- but it is light and feels like you are trying to reach it through porridge.

It is a bit too much grounding, with too little on the showy side for me. Good bitterness, but as I said that can’t make a beer work by itself.

Background: I mainly bought this ‘cos the can looked pretty. A run down Captain America looking dude but with an N for north on his head and a pint in his hand. While comics have not given up a Captain North yet they have given us a Captain Britain, and a Captain Midlands. No I am not making that last one up. Genuine truth mate. Anyway this is an IPA made with Azacca, Ekuanot, Nelson Sauvin and Mosaic hops. I only recognise the last two, but they are some good hops – think I have encountered the others, but couldn’t give any real details on them. Another one from Independent Spirit – I am making up for lost time.

Conclusion: This, at the end of the trip, is the first big, utterly stand out beer I have tried. I make no secret for my love for big hops in an IPA and this has that in spades.

This opens up juicy and fruity, a slight pause of kiwi before hitting with the aggressive bitterness afterwards – The green fruit of the early moments quickly falls to bitterness, charring and gunpowder tea like notes which last a long time. Late body tart gooseberry and tart grapes comes out, a refreshing release of fresh character, before it descends back into bitterness and bitter tea in the finish. It is a roller coaster ride of peaks and troughs, throwing you between sensations and only slowly letting the vanilla toffee straights of the ride show through as moments to catch your breath.

It is raw edged, yet does not feel unpolished. An assault IPA that keeps you interested to the end. It even manages as much subtlety as such a raw, assault beer can, far more than the average beer this intense, which makes for a sense awakening but not single note beer.

The Jackhammer of Hong Kong, but, if I may say so – even more intense, and more complex. Hop heads in HK, check this one out – it is the one you are looking for. I seriously hope this gets a wider distribution so more people can enjoy it. It deserves it. A proper great, intense IPA.

Background: I hunted out the Kowloon Taproom to try some more Hong Kong craft beer, and it did not disappoint – all decorated up for Halloween, with the staff in costume. It is a fairly small place and filled up fast, but the staff were great, very friendly and so enthusiastic about their beer. Had a chance to chat with some patrons and tried a fair range of beer. Some seriously good stuff. This, promising to be a big IPA, caught my eyes instantly and so was the first beer of the night.

Conclusion: This is pretty disappointing as an IPA, to use a certain degree of understatement. There is some hop character, but it is kind of muggy with low present bitterness. So a bad start.

Part of the problem, I think, is that it doesn’t seem to know what kind of IPA it is aiming for. It has that light sulphur character that can come with a British real ale IPA – and here that feels like an off note out of its natural real ale habitat. It has the caramel sweetness of an east coast IPA but with a much thinner body so it doesn’t deliver it well, and without pushing the fruity notes as well as such an IPA tends to do. It feels too wet and lacking in hop bitterness for a west coast IPA and distinctly lacks the fruit punch and creaminess for a New England IPA.

So, instead of comparing it on and on to the other IPA variants it doesn’t match I ask – how does it do as a new take on the IPA on its own, is it any good?

Well, sub par shall we say, to be kind. Too watery, a few off notes, muggy bitterness and low clarity of fruit flavours. It has elements that could be improved to make a good beer, but pretty much everything needs pushing up a notch. More body, more hops, more flavour. As it is, it is one of the more disappointing IPAs I’ve had and one of the more disappointing beers of the China trip. Not the worst beer, I’ve had – especially considering some of the wet air pale lagers I have run into, but definitely more disappointing as this shows hints that could be made, with a lot of effort, into something decent,

A definite avoid.

Background: I genuinely can’t find shit on these guys online – I randomly wandered over their pub while walking around Yangshuo. So, erm, yeah it is a brewery I ran into and had a beer at. Went for IPA as it tends to be a good go to beer for an unknown brewery. That’s about all I can say really.

Conclusion: My first IPA of the trip! I tend to find IPAs good go tos for judging a craft beer brewery as they are often the mainstay of a range. So short version – good hop use, average malt body. Boom. Notes done!

Ok, more detail – hops first. The hop use, while not show stopping, mixes American style apricot notes with NZ gooseberry tartness. Despite being named an A-IPA, it feels like it leans harder on the tarter notes to my mind, if I hadn’t been told they were aiming for American IPA I would have guessed it as a more NZ inspired beer myself. Then again, there are plenty of tart American hops, so its probably just my own preconceptions. Anyway, there is a lot of greenery, hop oils and even slight earthy hop character leading out in the finish giving a much more rustic styling to the ending against the tart main body. Lots of hop influence going on then, not raw bitterness, nor clean fruit, this is instead beer that seems to exploit a wide range of the available IPA styles for influences, which is cool.

So, onto the malt – the base could do with bit more body early on, though it does develop fairly nicely as it warms. Nothing too out of the normal though – It comes across slightly harsher that feels right – more a dry golden syrup style that a smooth sweet backing – but it doesn’t overly hurt the beer. It makes it feel like a rounded, characterful beer rather than a super polished expression, so in some ways the odd notes actually add to that.

So, average body, good hops – not a super stand out IPA but a solid pint, Rough edged but good flavour – a fair entry in their range but doesn’t insist on being tried above other IPAs.

Background: I am embarrassed how long it took me to realise A-IPA stood for American IPA. Anyway….. This was a hard wee Brewpub to find – they had several stashed around Beijing, but the one I hunted out was “Original 6” – the first they set up – tucked away in a hutong. I was glad that I a) had a map I had printed out on how to get to it and b) had maps in the hutong itself to compare it to, as this was tucked right in the backstreets and I was worried I was completely in the wrong area. I was not alone in this – while waiting for it to open I ran into two tourists looking at their smartphone map and wondering if they were lost, so I volunteered to show them where it was. Anyway, this was the first beer I tried, kicking back and relaxing after vast amounts of walking at the Great Wall the previous day. 1000 steps just to get to the wall. I earned this beer.